Major Data Items in Declarations
Completion of Import/Export Declarations and Data Requirement
Declarations lodged with the Commissioner must be accurate and complete in every respect. Data items required to be declared in an import/export declaration should be in accordance with those set out in the current version of the “Implementation Instructions of Government Electronic Trading Services System”, or “GETS II” for short, available on the website of the Commerce and Economic Development Bureau. Please visit www.cedb.gov.hk/en/policies/government-electronic-trading-services/reference-materials.html for more details of the GETS II.
Commodities shipped on the same ship, vehicle, train or aircraft to or from the same country/territory having commodity code numbers with identical first 4 digits or under one bill of lading, air waybill or road cargo manifest can be covered by one declaration form.
The major data items to be declared in an import/export declaration, with detailed descriptions on each item, are set out below.
- Please give name in full.
- For subscribers of Electronic Declaration Service through service providers, the name for registration must be used.
- Please give the Hong Kong address in full.
- Post Office Box Number is not acceptable.
- Please give the Business Registration Number or the Hong Kong Identity Card Number. For importers/exporters without Business Registration Number/Hong Kong Identity Card Number, please contact the Electronic Declaration Service Providers for special arrangement.
Shipment Details – For imports
- The date of arrival of the means of transport.
- The exact date is obtainable from the carrier/forwarder.
- The port/place, not the country/territory, at which the goods were loaded onto the means of transport used for the carriage of the goods.
- The country/territory from which the goods are originally dispatched to Hong Kong with or without breaking bulk in the course of transportation, but without any commercial transaction in any intermediate country/territory.
- It is not the country/territory to which the cargo is intended to deliver.
- The classification is given in page 5 of the Classification Methods
.
Shipment Details – For exports/re-exports
- The name and address of the party outside Hong Kong to which the goods are consigned.
- The date of departure of the means of transport.
- The exact date is obtainable from the carrier/forwarder.
- The port/place, not the country/territory, at which the goods were unloaded from the means of transport used for the carriage of the goods.
- If on carriage after discharging, please give the port/place of the final destination. Else, “NA” should be filled.
- The last country/territory to which the goods are consigned from Hong Kong with or without breaking bulk in the course of transportation, but without any commercial transaction in any intermediate country/territory
- The mode of transport by which the goods are carried into/out of Hong Kong.
- The classification is given in page 1 of the Classification Methods .
- Air transport mode includes also cargoes forwarded by aircraft through on-board courier (OBC) or courier companies.
- If the shipment is forwarded by a cargo forwarder/consolidator, put “Yes” and give the house bill of lading no. or house air waybill (HAWB) no. assigned by the forwarder/consolidator in the appropriate box.
Transportation Details – Air
- The identification number assigned by the airline company to a particular trip of an aircraft.
- It usually consists of 5 or 6 characters, of which the last 3 to 4 are numerical.
- The reference number of a MAWB No. assigned by the airline company.
- It consists of 11 characters, of which the first 3 are the code of the airline company.
- For cargoes forwarded by aircraft through on-board courier (OBC), “OBC-00000000” should be filled in this field.
- For cargoes forwarded by aircraft through courier companies, the MAWB No. can be found on the sticker of the package.
- The reference number of a HAWB No. assigned by the cargo forwarder/ consolidator.
- It should not be the same as the MAWB No.
- Both MAWB No. and HAWB No. should be filled if the consignment is forwarded by a cargo forwarder/consolidator.
- “NA” should be filled if the consignment is not a consolidated shipment.
- For cargoes forwarded by aircraft through on-board courier (OBC) or courier companies, the reference number assigned by the courier concerned should be filled in this field.
Transportation Details – Ocean and River
- The full name of vessel is required.
- Dummy vessel name such as “A Vessel” is not allowed.
- The identification number assigned by the shipping company to a particular trip of a vessel.
- “NIL” should be filled if it is confirmed that there is no voyage number.
- The reference number of a Bill of Lading assigned by the shipping company.
- It should not be a House Bill of Lading Number or Forwarder’s Cargo Receipt Number.
- The reference number of a House Bill of Lading assigned by the cargo forwarder/consolidator.
- It should not be the same as the Bill of Lading Number.
- Both master and house bill of lading numbers should be filled if the consignment is forwarded by a cargo forwarder/consolidator.
- “NA” should be filled if the consignment is not a consolidated shipment.
Transportation Details – Road
- The vehicle registration number of the vehicle transporting the goods into/out from Hong Kong.
- The unique reference number assigned by the Road Cargo System of the Customs and Excise Department to identify a consignment transported by road.
Transportation Details – Rail
- The reference number of the wagon transporting the goods into/out from Hong Kong.
- It consists of 4 to 7 digits.
- The unique reference number assigned by the rail cargo agent to identify a consignment transported by rail.
Transportation Details – Mail
- The reference number assigned by Hongkong Post to identify the delivery of a postal packet.
Transportation Details – Others
- The Customs Control Point where personal baggage is cleared.
- The classification is given in page 2 of the Classification Methods .
- The reference number assigned by the Customs and Excise Department to an “Advice to Lodge Import/Export Declaration for Imported/Exported Goods” at time of customs clearance of the goods carried by a passenger at the Customs Control Point.
- The reference number assigned by the China Travel Service (Cargo) Hong Kong Limited to hand carriers.
- The country/territory in which the goods are produced or manufactured.
- Please give the name of country/territory in which the goods are produced or manufactured for each commodity item. For domestic exports, the origin country/territory must be Hong Kong.
- Domestic exports are the natural produce of Hong Kong or the products of a manufacturing process in Hong Kong which has changed permanently and substantially the shape, nature, form or utility of the basic materials used in manufacture. Processes such as simple diluting, packing, bottling, drying, simple assembling, sorting, decorating, etc., do not confer Hong Kong origin. For the detailed origin criteria and the corresponding principal manufacturing processes for specific products, please contact the Trade and Industry Department (enquiry hotline: 2398 5545).
- Re-exports are products which have previously been imported into Hong Kong and which are re-exported without having undergone in Hong Kong a manufacturing process which has changed permanently and substantially the shape, nature, form or utility of the basic materials used in the manufacture.
- The classification is given in page 5 of the Classification Methods .
- Please give full particulars of the goods such as usage, method of manufacture, material used, and where appropriate, proper chemical or technical name.
- Please give the goods description in specific term, such as “microwave ovens” but not “electrical appliances”.
- Please give the commodity code number in accordance with the current Hong Kong Imports and Exports Classification List (Harmonized System). If necessary, please call Commodity Code Enquiry Hotline at 3178 8933 to get the relevant HKHS commodity code.
- Quantities where shown, represent the net weight, volume or size of the goods exclusive of containers, internal wrapping or any other packing. The metric system is adopted for all units of quantity.
- It should be consistent with the field “Unit of Quantity”. Conversion is required if it involves different units of quantity.
- It contains up to 14 numeric characters, including maximum 3 decimal places. Decimal point is allowed to float and is not counted as a character. For example, 12345678901234, 1234567890123.4, 123456789012.34 and 12345678901.234.
- The classification is given in page 2 of the Classification Methods .
- The full cost of goods up to arrival in Hong Kong, including the cost of goods, insurance, freight and any other charges.
- The value should be in HONG KONG DOLLARS. If the importer makes payment for the goods in foreign currency, in general, it should be converted into Hong Kong dollars at the remittance selling exchange rate prevailing at the time of arrival of shipment or according to the Banker’s Debit Note.
- The full cost of the goods up to loading of the goods on to the exporting vessel, vehicle or aircraft, including the cost of goods and any other charges.
- The value should be in HONG KONG DOLLARS. If the exporter receives payment for the goods in foreign currency, in general, it should be converted into Hong Kong dollars at the remittance buying exchange rate prevailing at the time of departure of shipment or according to the Banker’s Credit Advice.
- Graphics should be described textually as far as possible.
- If there are more than one container number, importers/exporters should enter the remaining in the “Marks and Numbers” column of the respective item for reference.
- The number of individual packing units of each kind of commodity of a shipment.
- Please give the number of packages actually shipped for each kind of commodity.
- The classification is given in page 3 of the Classification Methods .
- Please give the total number of packages actually shipped, regardless of the package type. For example, the total number of packages is 21 if there are 20 cartons of glassware and 1 box of toys.
- The unique reference number for each new declaration message. A new one should be assigned for each new declaration to be submitted.
- This reference number should be quoted in all subsequent messages in connection with the original declaration.
- If the import/export declaration is lodged in response to the Notice on Lodgement of Import/Export Declaration (Declaration Notice) issued by the Census and Statistics Department, the unique notice reference number assigned should be entered.
- The reference number can be found at the top right hand corner of the Declaration Notice.
- A unique reference number for the batch of line items that should be transported in one go according to the commercial contract between the supplier and the customer.
Please check if all the appropriate boxes in the import/export declaration are completed properly in Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese or English. For details of the Chinese character sets, please refer to “GETS II”. Please note that inaccurate or incomplete declarations may be rejected by the system and cannot be lodged with the Government.